Transat Jacques Vabre- Class 40 heads to La Coruna for repair

In the Transat Jacques Vabre double handed race from Le Havre to Itajaí, Brasil the Class 40 BET 1128 Class40 skippered by Gaetano Mura (ITA) and Sam Manuard (FRA) are heading to La Coruna to make running repairs after they broke the swivel hook on their Solent headsail and the mast fell down but did not land in the water.

The duo managed to raise the mast again and carry on but are heading to La Coruna, NW Spain which is about 150 miles downwind for them. They need to repair some electrical cables inside the mast which were damaged and the hook for the Solent.

British skipper Brian Thompson, on Caterham Challenge with co-skipper Mike Gascoyne, reported this morning that they only narrowly missed colliding with BET 1128 which was only a few metres away from them when the incident happened.

Thompson reported:
'We were just behind Bet 1128 when their mast came down directly in front of us. Luckily I was on deck steering and could avoid a collision. Hope the boys onboard are ok.'